LDS Prof Says Vegetarian Diet Upholds Mormon Scripture

2. Vasu Murti said:

Kindness to animals can be found in the early teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith (1805-1844), who founded the Mormon Church in 1830, preached the humane treatment of animals:

"God glorified Himself by saving all that His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes or men; and He will glorify Himself with them

"Kindness to the whole animal creation and especially to all domestic animals is not only a virtue that should be developed but is the ABSOLUTE DUTY OF MANKIND. Children should be taught that nature in all forms is our heavenly Father’s Great Book of Life.

"Furthermore, he who treats in a brutal manner a poor dumb animal, at that moment disqualifies himself for the companionship of the Holy Spirit."

It appears even poisonous snakes were to be treated with respect. An entry in Smith’s diary dated May 26, 1834, describes poisonous snakes found in the encampment: "The brethren took the serpents carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek. I exhorted the brethren not to kill the serpent, bird or animal of any kind during our journey unless it became necessary to preserve ourselves from hunger."

According to Mormon theology, humans are held responsible for treatment of every animal in their care. In Joseph Smith’s inspired version of the Bible, Genesis 9:11 reads: "Blood of animals shall not be shed only for meat to save your lives; and the blood of every beast I will require at your hands." Commenting on this verse, W. Cleon Skowsen writes in First Two Thousand Years, "God did not intend that the lives of animals should be subject to cruelty and abuse. The proper treatment of the animal kingdom is part of the human stewardship."

The Mormon scripture and Bible (Doctrine and Covenants, 49:21) says: "And woe be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need." It further states, "Man has been entrusted with sovereignty over the animal kingdom that he may learn to govern as God rules, by the power of love and justice, and become fit for his eternal destiny as a ruler of worlds." (Doctrine and Covenants, Commentary, section 47, p. 361).

The Mormon Church has also advocated a mostly vegetarian diet as part of its philosophy of health and reverence for life. This began in 1833, when church founder Joseph Smith received a revelation of such a health code as God’s will, emphasizing grains as the staple for one’s diet. Meat is meant to be eaten only rarely, such as in times of famine or extreme cold, when animals will likely perish.

The exact statement from the Mormon scriptures reads as follows:

"Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

"And it is pleasing unto Me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."

---Doctrine and Covenants 89:12,13

Brigham Young, who succeeded Joseph Smith as head of the Mormon Church in 1847, taught that animals are a sacred gift from God and humans are obliged to respect them: "If we maltreat our animals, or each other, the spirit within us, our traditions and the Bible, all agree in declaring it is wrong...The more kind we are to our animals, the more peace will increase."

David O. McKay, former president of the Mormon Church, explains humanity’s duties and responsibilities towards animals as follows: "A true Latter-day Saint is kind to animals, is kind to every living thing, for God has created all...In all teaching, the element of love for all of the creatures of the earth can be emphasized, and thus religion imparted."

According to George Q. Cannon (1827-1901): "These birds and animals and fish cannot speak, but they can suffer, and our God who created them knows their sufferings, and will hold him who causes them to suffer unnecessarily to answer for it. It is a sin against their Creator.

"Children who are trained to respect the rights of the lower animals," taught Cannon, "will be more inclined to respect human rights and become good citizens. It has been observed that in places where special attention has been given in the public schools to the subject of kindness to animals, the percentage of crime has been lessened."

Joseph Fielding Smith, nephew of church founder Joseph Smith, and president of the Mormon Church from 1901 to 1918, has written:

"It was intended that all creatures should be happy in their several elements. Therefore to take the life of these creatures wantonly is a sin before the Lord.

"There is no inference in the scriptures that it isa privilege of men to slay birds or beasts or to catch fish wantonly

"The domination the Lord gave man over the brute creations has been, to a very large extent, used selfishly, thoughtlessly, cruelly...

"Kindness to the whole animal creation is not only a virtue that should be developed, but is the absolute duty of mankind...But with this dominion came the responsibility to treat with love and consideration every living thing...

"Take not the life you cannot give. For all things have an equal right to live."Hugh Nibley, a church leader in Utah, has written:"Man’s domination is a call to service, not a license to exterminate. It is precisely be cause men now prey upon each other and shed the blood and waste the flesh of other creatures without need that the world lieth in sin."

4. Thomas said:

Mormon's Are Commanded to be Vegetarians? BYU Professor Chris Foster’s misinterpretation of LDS scripture. Listen how Professor Foster projects his personal interpretations on to selected versus of the Word of Wisdom to substantiate his theory.

Anyone can extrapolate various theories of diverse sorts by selecting a single verse or a culmination of verses out of a full chapter or book to perceive their own personal scriptural interpretation and to rationalize and substantiate their own eating lifestyle. Vegetarian is one extreme of complete abstinence of meat and the scripture denotes the opposite standard of health with moderation in all things. But is Foster’s theory the true interpretation of the revelation? I wouldn’t bet my eternal salvation or my recommend on Prof. Foster's interpretive hands.

6. Vasu Murti said:

"One man's meat is another man/woman/child's hunger." This slogan is part of the "Enough" campaign, with its aim of reducing meat consumption. The campaign highlights the waste of resources involved in feeding grain to animals. "Every minute 18 children die from starvation, yet 40% of the world's grain is fed to animals for meat." Vegetarianism for a trial period is advocated to "help the hungry, improve the environment" and "stop untold animal suffering." Vegetarianism is also recommended on health grounds. This campaign actually has the support of organized religion.

Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, in his 1977 book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, pointed out that 220 million Americans were eating enough food (largely because of the high consumption of grain fed to livestock) to feed over one billion people in the poorer countries.

The realization that meat is an unnecessary luxury, resulting in inequities in the world food supply has prompted religious leaders in different Christian denominations to call on their members to abstain from meat on certain days of the week. Paul Moore, Jr., the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New York, made such an appeal in a November, 1974 pastoral letter calling for the observance of “meatless Wednesdays.”

A similar appeal had previously been issued by Cardinal Cooke, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York. The Reverend Eugene Carson Blake, former head of the World Council of Churches and founder of Bread for the World, has encouraged everyone in his anti-hunger organization to abstain from eating meat on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

“Is this not the fast I have chosen? To loosen the chains of wickedness, to undo the bonds of oppression, and to let the oppressed go free? Is it not to share thy bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless? Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

—Isaiah 58:6-8

“Honourable men may disagree honourably about some details of human treatment of the non-human,” wrote Stephen Clark in his 1977 book, The Moral Status of Animals, “but vegetarianism is now as necessary a pledge of moral devotion as was the refusal of emperor-worship in the early church.”

According to Clark, eating animal flesh is “gluttony,” and “Those who still eat flesh when they could do otherwise have no claim to be serious moralists.”

“Clark’s conclusion has real force and its power has yet to be sufficiently appreciated by fellow Christians,” says the Reverend Andrew Linzey, author of Christianity and the Rights of Animals. “Far from seeing the possibility of widespread vegetarianism as a threat to Old Testament norms, Christians should rather welcome the fact that the Spirit is enabling us to make decisions so that we may more properly conform to the original Genesis picture of living in peace with creation.”

Father Thomas Berry, a Catholic priest, author, and founder of the Riverdale Center of Religious Research in New York, wrote in 1987 that “Vegetarianism is a way of life that we should all move toward for economic survival, physical well-being, and spiritual integrity.”

In a speech before the World Council of Churches in September 1988, Dr. Tom Regan concluded:

“…the whole fabric of Christian agape is woven from the threads of sacrificial acts. To abstain…from eating animals, therefore, although it is not the end-all, can be the begin-all of our conscientious effort to journey back to (or toward) Eden, can be one way (among others) to re-establish or create that relationship to the earth which, if Genesis 1 is to be trusted, was part of God’s original hopes for and plans in creation.

"It is the integrity of this creation we seek to understand and aspire to honor. In the choice of our food, I believe, we see…a small but not unimportant part of both the challenge and the promise of Christianity and animal rights.”

In biology, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe calculated the probability of proteins forming from the random interaction of amino acids–the building blocks of Life. They found the odds were one out of ten to the 40,000th power. Given these extreme odds, it’s hard to imagine the self-organization of matter without the deliberate intervention of some kind of higher power or intelligence.

All life is thus precious and sacred. Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Francis Crick has admitted, “the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle.” Organized religion is just beginning to understand that the “sanctity of life” includes other species.

In a 1989 article entitled, “Re-examining the Christian Scriptures,” Rick Dunkerly of Christ Lutheran Church concludes, “…the Bible-believing Christian, should, of all people, be on the frontline in the struggle for animal welfare and rights. We who are Christians should be treating the animal creation now as it will be treated then, at Christ’s second coming. It will not now be perfect, but it must be substantial, otherwise we have missed our calling, and we grieve the One we call ‘Lord’, who was born in a stable surrounded by animals simply because He chose it that way.” Dunkerly teaches Bible studies at his home Church and is actively involved in animal rescue projects.

In 1992, members of Los Angeles’ First Unitarian Church agreed to serve vegetarian meals at the church’s weekly Sunday lunch. Their decision was made as a protest against animal cruelty and the environmental damage caused by the livestock industry.

The Reverend Marc Wessels, Executive Director of the International Network for Religion and Animals (INRA) made this observation on Earth Day 1990:

“It is a fact that no significant social reform has yet taken place in this country without the voice of the religious community being heard. The endeavors of the abolition of slavery; the women’s suffrage movement; the emergence of the pacifist tradition during World War I; the struggles to support civil rights, labor unions, and migrant farm workers; and the anti-nuclear and peace movements have all succeeded in part because of the power and support of organized religion. Such authority and energy is required by individual Christians and the institutional church today if the liberation of animals is to become a reality.”

8. Vasu Murti said:

The most-repeated argument against biblical vegetarianism I've gotten from Christians is that they think they are no longer under Mosaic Law, because the apostle Paul referred to his background as a former Pharisee and his previous adherence to Mosaic Law (with its dietary laws, commandments calling for the humane treatment of animals, etc.) as "so much garbage." (Philippians 3:4-8) There is nothing in the synoptic gospels of Jesus, however, to suggest a fundamental break with Judaism. Jesus was called "Rabbi," meaning "Master" or "Teacher," 42 times in the gospels. The ministry of Jesus was a rabbinic one. Jesus related Scripture and God's laws to everyday life, teaching by personal example. He engaged in healing and acts of mercy. He told stories or parables--a rabbinic method of teaching. He went to the synagogue (Matthew 12:9), taught in the synagogues (Matthew 4:23, 13:54; Mark 1:39), expressed concern for Jairus, "one of the rulers of the synagogue" (Mark 5:36) and it "was his custom" to go to the synagogue (Luke 4:16). Jesus began his ministry by teaching the multitudes not to "give what is sacred to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine." (Matthew 7:6) Dogs, like swine, were considered foul and unclean by the Hebrew people. (Deuteronomy 23:18; I Samuel 24:14; II Kings 8:13; Psalm 22:16,20; Matthew 7:6; Luke 16:21; Revelations 22:15) These words were used by the children of Israel to describe the neighboring heathen populations.

When sending his disciples out to preach, Jesus instructed them not to go to the gentiles, but to "go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5-6) When a Canaanite woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter, he replied, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel...It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." (Matthew 15:22-28) Jesus regarded the gentiles as "dogs." His gospel was intended for the Jewish people. Even the apostle Paul admits that the gospel was first intended for the Jews, and that the Jews have every advantage over the gentiles in this regard (Romans 1:16, 3:1-2).When a scribe asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the Torah, Jesus began with "Hear O Israel, the Lord, thy God, is One Lord." This is the Shema, which is still heard in every synagogue service to this day. "And you shall love the Lord with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...And you shall love your neighbor as yourself," Jesus concluded.When the scribe agreed that God is one and that to love Him completely and also love one's neighbor as oneself is "more important than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices," Jesus replied, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:29-34; Luke 10:25-28)In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus himself said, "Do not suppose I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill...till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle pass from the Law till all is fulfilled. Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven...unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20) Jesus also upheld the Torah in Luke 16:17: "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest portion of the Law to become invalid."

Nor do these words refer merely to the Ten Commandments. Jesus meant the entire Torah: 613 commandments. When a man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus replied, "You know the commandments." He then quoted not just the Ten Commandments, but a commandment from Leviticus 19:13 as well: "Do not defraud." (Mark 10:17-22)

Jesus' disciples were once accused by the scribes and Pharisees of violating rabbinical tradition (Matthew 15:1-2; Mark 7:5), but not biblical law. At no place in the entire New Testament does Jesus ever proclaim Torah or the Law of Moses to be abolished; this was the theology of Paul, a former Pharisee who never knew Jesus, but who used to persecute Jesus' followers. Paul openly identified himself not as a Jew but as a Roman (Acts 22:25-26) and an apostate from Judaism (Philippians 3:4-8)Sometimes Christians cite Matthew 7:12, where Jesus says "Do unto others..." and this "covers" the Law and the prophets. But Jesus was merely repeating in the positive what Rabbi Hillel taught a generation earlier. No one took Hillel's words to mean the Law had been abolished--why should we assume this of Jesus?If Jesus really did come to abolish the Law and the prophets, Simon (Peter) would not have resisted a divine command to kill and eat both "clean" and "unclean" animals (Acts 10), nor would there have been a debate in the early church as to what extent the gentiles were to observe Mosaic Law (Acts 15). When Paul visited the church at Jerusalem, James and the elders told him all its members were "zealous for the Law," and that they were worried because they heard rumors that Paul was preaching against Mosaic Law (Acts 21). None of these events would have happened had Jesus really come to abolish the Law and the prophets. Jesus not only repeatedly upheld Mosaic Law, he justified his healing on the Sabbath by referring to commandments calling for the humane treatment of animals! While teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, Jesus healed a woman who had been ill for eighteen years. He justified his healing work on the Sabbath by referring to biblical passages calling for the humane treatment of animals as well as their rest on the Sabbath. "So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham...be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" Jesus asked. (Luke 13:10-16)On yet another occasion, Jesus again referred to Torah teaching on "tsa'ar ba'alei chayim" or compassion for animals to justify healing on the Sabbath. "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" (Luke 14:1-5)Jesus compared saving sinners who had gone astray from God's kingdom to rescuing lost sheep. He recalled a Jewish legend about Moses' compassion as a shepherd for his flock:"For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? Who among you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it," Jesus continued, "he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home,he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"I say to you, likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance...there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Matthew 18:11-13; Luke 15:3-7,10)Paul, on the other hand, said if anyone has confidence in Mosaic Law, "I am ahead of him" (Philippians 3:4-8). Would that include Jesus, who said he did not come to abolish the Law and the prophets? Would that include Jesus, who said whoever sets aside even the least of the laws demands shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-19)? Would that include Jesus, who taught that following the commandments of God is the only way to eternal life (Mark 10:17-22)? Would that include Jesus who said that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest portion of the Law to become invalid (Luke 16:17)?Paul may have regarded his previous adherence to Mosaic Law as "so much garbage," but it should be obvious by now that JESUS DIDN'T THINK THE LAW WAS "GARBAGE"!If Christians assign greater value to Paul's teachings over those of Jesus, then "Christianity" really is "Paulianity". Bertrand Russell referred to Paul as the "inventor" of Christianity.

I'm not saying Christians should all be circumcised and following Mosaic Law. The Reverend Andrew Linzey, the foremost theologian in the field of animal-human relations and author of Christianity and the Rights of Animals (1987), rejected such an approach in a 1989 interview with the Animals' Agenda. I'm merely saying that Christianity for the past 2000 years has been based on a misunderstanding. My friend Rankin Fisher (a former Missionary Baptist minister), quoted a Methodist minister friend of his as having admitted, "We (Christians) aren't really following Jesus. We're following Paul."

10. Vasu Murti said:

“In all the round world of Utopia there is no meat. There used to be. But now we cannot stand the thought of slaughterhouses. And, in a population that is all educated, and at about the same level of physical refinement, it Is practically impossible to find anyone who will hew a dead ox or pig…I can still remember as a boy the rejoicings over the closing of the last slaughterhouse.”

---H.G. Wells A Modern Utopia

There ARE Christian vegetarians and vegans, of whom I have the deepest respect. I don't take it seriously when meat-eaters say, "The Bible permits us to eat meat," because the Bible was also used to uphold human slavery.

Can you imagine 18th century Christians telling abolitionists, "We don't need to free our slaves...That’s 'good works’…we don’t have to ‘work’ for our salvation...All we have to do is accept Jesus...Paul said Jesus told him three times, ‘my grace is sufficient for thee,’ ...we don't need to free our slaves..." ?

Or how about an 18th century Christian preacher who tells his followers, “You don’t have to free your slaves…All you have to do is accept Jesus.” ?

Back in 1995, I had written a manuscript entitled Life and Liberty, discussing parallels between the pro-life and animal rights movements. Endorsed by pro-life activist Carol Crossed, it was circulated widely among member organizations of the Seamless Garment Network (now Consistent Life), a coalition of peace and justice organizations on the religious Left. At one point, I received an anonymous letter from a group of Christian monks who dismissed animal rights with a single word: more. St. Thomas More, of course, abolished the killing of animals in Utopia. In the late '90s, when my friend Albert and I formed Allies Of Peace as a pro-life and pro-animal group within the Seamless Garment Network (and went on to distribute pro-life and pro-animal literature within the SGN), I asked him how he, as a Catholic vegetarian, responded to the accusation that animal liberationists are "utopian." Albert replied that all social progress seems "utopian" until it becomes part of the mainstream. I asked the same question of Reverend Frank Hoffman, a retired Methodist minister, a vegan, and owner of the Christian vegetarian website www.all-creatures.org . Frank replied, "I don't think it (vegetarianism) is 'utopian'," and proceeded to give the example of the vegetarian lioness, Little Tyke, whose background is well known in Christian vegetarian circles. (See the web link below.) http://www.vegetarismus.ch/vegepet/tyke.htm In 2002, I asked Bruce Friedrich of PETA, who is a practicing Roman Catholic, and who wrote the preface to my own book, They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy, this question. Bruce replied, "Jesus was 'utopian'," cited the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, and said Christians are called to live their lives with the understanding that the kingdom of God is at hand. The late Reverend Janet Regina Hyland, who wrote the foreword to They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy, who was raised Catholic but instead went over to the Protestants and became an evangelical minister, and was the author of God's Covenant with Animals (available through PETA), cited the biblical prophecies of the coming kingdom of peace in Isaiah 11:6-9:

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the lion and the fatling together And a little child shall lead them.

“The cow and the bear shall feed their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

“The suckling child shall play over the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den

“They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain For all the earth shall be in full knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Regina said, "...that's out there in la-la land. But that's Scripture!" Joanna Macy, author of Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age, makes a similar observation in her foreword to John Robbins' Pulitzer Prize nominated Diet for a New America (which makes veganism seem as mainstream as recycling). Depicting the advantages of America moving towards a vegan diet, she writes: "The effects on our physical health are immediate. The incidence of cancer and heart attack, the nation's biggest killers, drops precipitously. So do many other diseases now demonstrably and causally linked to consumption of animal proteins and fats, such as osteoporosis... "The social, ecological, and economic consequences, as we Americans turn away from animal food products, are equally remarkable. We find that the grain we previously fed to fatten livestock can now feed five times the U.S. population; so we have become able to alleviate malnutrition and hunger on a worldwide scale... "The great forests of the world, that we had been decimating for grazing purposes, begin to grow again. Oxygen-producing trees are no longer sacrificed for cholesterol-producing steaks. "The water crisis eases. As we stop raising and grinding up cattle for hamburgers, we discover that ranching and farm factories had been the major drain on our water resources. The amount of water now available for irrigation and hydroelectric power doubles. Meanwhile, the change in diet frees over 90% of the fossil fuel energy previously used to produce food. With this liberation of water, energy and fossil fuel energy, our reliance on oil imports declines, as does the rationale for building nuclear power plants..." Joanna Macy goes on to admit, "This scenario is wildly, absurdly utopian. It is also clearly the way we are meant to live, built to live." What could possibly make it a reality? "It is this very book!" Paul McCartney also says, "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty. Let's do it!" Finally, in one of his first civil rights sermons at the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer...If we are wrong, justice is a lie!" These words apply equally well to the struggle for animal rights. Bruce Friedrich told me back in the late '90s that Dexter Scott King--head of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolence in Atlanta, and (the late) Coretta Scott King are/were vegan. Having animal rights dismissed as "utopian" didn't faze me. Instead, back in 1995, I told James Dawson (who used to publish Live and Let Live, a pro-life/animal rights/Libertarian 'zine), that I prefer being labeled a “dreamer” to being labeled a "Nazi"--i.e., the old myth that “Hitler was a vegetarian.” As Roberta Kalechofsky of Jews for Animal Rights points out in her 1996 article, “Nazis and Animals: Debunking the Myths,” Hitler “had a special fondness for sausages and caviar, and sometimes ham,” as well as “liver dumplings,” and the Nazis experimented on animals as well as humans in the concentration camps.

To those who would deem animal liberation “utopian,” I think it’s fair to compare it to nuclear disarmament—a political position seriously advocated by great thinkers such as Albert Einstein (who also advocated worldwide vegetarianism) and organizations like Greenpeace. I prefer vegetarianism be regarded like world peace, as a universal ideal, rather than seen as a sectarian dietary restriction, like “keeping kosher.” As John Lennon said:

"You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one”

John & Yoko were known for pulling all kinds of crazy stunts in the name of peace. In one of his first solo records, "God", John said, "I don't believe..." and attacked all religion. But shortly after his assassination, Yoko made a statement saying that while John was often critical of religion, in the end, he loved, appreciated, and believed in it all.

12. James said:

Vegetarianism is wonderful! Not everyone needs to become vegetarian, but it would be wise to consume less meat--especially in our culture.

People may pick, choose, and interpret whatever teachings they want. I say, follow those that seem most ethical, humane, and compassionate--for each individual.

14. James said:

I don't believe Thomas listened to the professor's statements regarding vegetarianism and the Church. He never said that church members should be vegetarian according to Mormon doctrine, he just stated that Mormon scripture can support those who choose a vegetarian lifestyle.

To each their own!

16. David said:

I think that this is a shame really. the only organization that has the authority to command the members of the church to cease from the eating of anything, through divine revalation I might add, is the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

No single person, not even the Prophet, can command all of the members to do anything. People forget how the church actually works and it is by consensus.

When the Prophet receives revelation he presents it to his councilors, the other members of the First Presidency. If they unanimously agree then it must be presented to the Quorum of the Twelve who also have to agree unanimously or it is considered to not be revelation.

This is done, as it should be and in its proper order so that there will be no contention in the church and becuase every member has the right and the responsiblity to receive personal revelation. This means that if a thing is true each and everyone of us has the ability to receive a testimony, a witness if you will, of the truth.

It is also done this way to prevent any one person from excercising unrighteous dominion, because even Prophets are only human. They can, in their zeal or under pressure, make mistakes.

For proof of this you need only look to the Doctrine and Covenants concerning Joseph Smith and Martin Harris and the 116 pages of the lost manuscript to know this is true.

Clearly Professor Foster is not part of the First Presidency or the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He neither has the right, the priesthood, or the authority to make the assertions that he made. By doing so he has obviously in this blog and in his article brought contention into the church which is not of Heavenly Father.

Most likely the good Professor did not intend for this to happen and was only stating his opinion. As such it should be take as that and no argument need be made over it further.

As members of the church we are to obey the commandments and be scholars of our scriptures. We may eat, as we choose and interpret for ourselves what the Word of Widom means for ourselves individually. If there is to be a greater point or a clearer definition made it must be done by those in authority to do so. And that, my friends, is not any of us here.

18. Melissa said:

I like that in section 89 verse 3 it reads that this principle was adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints - i wonder what it would include if it were for the strong and strongest of the saints. NO meat, eggs, dairy at all. Only raw food. perhaps no sugar! It gives me something to think about - it started me on my own path to vegetarianism over 2 years ago. Now i'm on my own path to veganism. I think it's better to be compassionate than it is to kill animals for food... especially when we in the U.S. and other westernized cultures don't need to eat meat to survive. And if you look at people in non-westernized cultures - they don't eat meat anyways. we should look to their example - they are some of the healthiest people.